--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The essential feature, and necessity of…" description: "\"The essential feature, and necessity of life is to know reality, which means knowing God.\" — Malcolm Muggeridge" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/675/malcolm-muggeridge-2370_essentials_the-essential-feature-and-necessity-of-l_3181719.png" --- # The essential feature, and necessity of life is to know… ![“The essential feature, and necessity of life is to know reality, which means knowing God.” quote by Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/675/malcolm-muggeridge-2370_essentials_the-essential-feature-and-necessity-of-l_3181719.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/675/malcolm-muggeridge-2370_essentials_the-essential-feature-and-necessity-of-l_3181719.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/675/malcolm-muggeridge-2370_essentials_the-essential-feature-and-necessity-of-l_3181719.png) > “The essential feature, and necessity of life is to know reality, which means knowing God.” [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Understanding reality requires knowing God, which is essential for life. **In simple terms:** Knowing God is key to grasping reality. Key Takeaway Seek spiritual insight to comprehend existence. Themes faith ontology purpose Mood reflective inquisitive Type philosophical theological When to use this quote - theological study - personal belief - existential questioning Key Concepts God reality knowledge Questions to Reflect On - Do you equate reality with the divine? - How does belief shape your perception? A Different Perspective Not everyone accepts God as reality’s basis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Essentials](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/essentials/) [Features](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/features/) [Know Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-reality-364278/) [Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing/) [Knowing god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing-god/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-is/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Means Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/means-knowing-728002/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Reality Means](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality-means-290189/) ## Related quotes > [“The attempt to understand reality apart from that action of God in and upon reality means living in anabstraction; it means failing to live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/the-attempt-to-understand-reality-apart-from-that-action-of-god-in/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [Reality means you live until you die. The real truth is nobody wants reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/reality-means-you-live-until-you-die-the-real-truth-is-nobody-wants/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [Accepting reality means that you're ready to do something with it, and to do something about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/accepting-reality-means-that-you-re-ready-to-do-something-with-it-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Freedom is a very great reality, but it means above all things, freedom from lies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/freedom-is-a-very-great-reality-but-it-means-above-all-things-freedom/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [Words are inaccurate pointers to reality and should by no means be trusted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/words-are-inaccurate-pointers-to-reality-and-should-by-no-means-be/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“A painter must never be satisfied with what he sees—painting reality means surrendering to it,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sa-a-stani-i/a-painter-must-never-be-satisfied-with-what-he-sees-painting-reality/) [Saša Stanišić](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sa-a-stani-i/) > [The reality is that if you want to be in a reality-based community, you've got to respect reality and that means calling it bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hodgman/the-reality-is-that-if-you-want-to-be-in-a-reality-based-community/) [John Hodgman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hodgman/) > [“The Real World' The real word doesn't take flight the way dreams do. No muffled voice, no doorbell can dispel it, no shriek, no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wis-awa-szymborska/the-real-world-the-real-word-doesn-t-take-flight-the-way-dreams-do-no/) [Wisława Szymborska](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wis-awa-szymborska/) > [Love is a striking example of how little reality means to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/love-is-a-striking-example-of-how-little-reality-means-to-us/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [For to dream and then to return to reality only means that our qualms suffer a change of place and significance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidonie-gabrielle/for-to-dream-and-then-to-return-to-reality-only-means-that-our-qualms/) [Sidonie Gabrielle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidonie-gabrielle/) > [Thinking is the desire to gain reality by means of ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/thinking-is-the-desire-to-gain-reality-by-means-of-ideas/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [...words are the gateway to reality, the means by which we engage with the objective truth beyond ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-pearce/words-are-the-gateway-to-reality-the-means-by-which-we-engage-with/) [Joseph Pearce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-pearce/) > [Reason and reality are the only means to just laws; mindless wishes, if given sovereignty, become deadly masters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/reason-and-reality-are-the-only-means-to-just-laws-mindless-wishes-if/) [Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/) > [Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-piaget/knowing-reality-means-constructing-systems-of-transformations-that/) [Jean Piaget](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-piaget/) > [ From the internal reality, by which I means the totality of psychological experiences, it \[science\] actually separates us. Art, for example, deals with many… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/from-the-internal-reality-by-which-i-means-the-totality-of/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) ## More by Malcolm Muggeridge > [It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuitslikebecoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing beautiful women, flying thought the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/it-is-only-possible-to-succeed-at-second-rate-pursuitslikebecoming-a/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [He was not only a bore; he bored for England.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/he-was-not-only-a-bore-he-bored-for-england/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfillment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/the-orgasm-has-replaced-the-cross-as-the-focus-of-longing-and-the/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Posterity will surely be amazed, and I hope vastly amused, that such slipshod and unconvincing theorizing should have so easily captivated twentieth-century minds and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/posterity-will-surely-be-amazed-and-i-hope-vastly-amused-that-such/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [In politics, as in womanizing, failure is decisive. 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I would have said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/i-wouldn-t-have-said-that-anthony-eden-was-equipped-by-nature-to-deal/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [God, stay with me, let no word cross my lips that is not your word, no thoughts enter my mind that are not your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/god-stay-with-me-let-no-word-cross-my-lips-that-is-not-your-word-no/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [The monarchical institution in England is immensely valuable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/the-monarchical-institution-in-england-is-immensely-valuable/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Education, the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/education-the-great-mumbo-jumbo-and-fraud-of-the-age/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [This life in us; however low it flickers or fiercely burns, is still a divine flame which no man dare presume to put out,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/this-life-in-us-however-low-it-flickers-or-fiercely-burns-is-still-a/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [As Man alone, Jesus could not have saved us; As God alone, He would not; Made flesh, He could and did.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/as-man-alone-jesus-could-not-have-saved-us-as-god-alone-he-would-not/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [ I think it \[presidency of Dwight Eisenhower\] came too late and I think that he is not on the wavelength of this dreadful time… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/i-think-it-presidency-of-dwight-eisenhower-came-too-late-and-i-think/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [Future historians will surely see us as having created in the media a Frankenstein monster whom no one knows how to control ordirect, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/future-historians-will-surely-see-us-as-having-created-in-the-media-a/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [ I think that President \[Dwight\] Eisenhower was... did the most marvelous job in the war, not really a military job: a public relations job,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/i-think-that-president-dwight-eisenhower-was-did-the-most-marvelous/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) [Explore all 168 Malcolm Muggeridge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) ## More Essentials quotes > [Jeff Chu's pilgrimage across America to discover his own place as a gay man in the Christian church as well as attitudes about being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-freitas/jeff-chu-s-pilgrimage-across-america-to-discover-his-own-place-as-a/) [Donna Freitas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-freitas/) > [History is, in its essentials, the science of change. 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We claim them from a higher source - from the King of kings and Lord of all the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dickinson/the-rights-essential-to-happiness-we-claim-them-from-a-higher-source/) [John Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dickinson/) > [The essential functions of the mind consist in understanding and in inventing, in other words, in building up structures by structuring reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-piaget/the-essential-functions-of-the-mind-consist-in-understanding-and-in/) [Jean Piaget](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-piaget/) > [They are the gateway for our modern esthetic development, the prophets of the new time. 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